Pneumatic carrier.



M. L. EMERSON.

PNEUMATIC CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-18.1913

Patented May 30,1916.

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MERTON L. EMERSON, 0F BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASS'IGNOR TO AMERICANPNEUMATIC SERVICECOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

PNEUMATIC CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'May 30, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MERTON L. EMERSON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Braintree, in the county ofNorfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Pneumatic Carriers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to carriers for tubular and other despatchsystems and has for its principal object the provision of an improvedclosure for such carriers.

I have further aimed to effect a closer fitting engagement between thebody of the carrier and its cover, when such parts are linked together,than has been customary heretofore, when said cover is closed.

These and other objects of my invention will be hereinafter referred to,and the novel combinations, whereby said objects may be attained will bemore particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

Inuhe drawing which forms a part hereof and in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, I haveexemplified a preferred form of my device; but I am aware that variouschanges and modifications may be made herein without departing from thespirit of my invention and I hence desire to be limited only by thescope of said claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is A an elevation of a carrieradapted for use in a pneumatic despatch system for the conveyance ofmail and other bulky matter; the top of the carrier and its cover beingbroken away to illustrate certain details of con struction. Fig. 2 is atop view of said carrier. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail, showing thecover in its open position. Fig. 4. is a similar detail showing thecover-lock and associated parts; said parts being viewed from theunderside of the cover. v

The carrier casing 1 in the present case is provided with contact-ringsor guiding-parts 2, adapted for engagement with the walls of the tube orway along or upon which the carrier travels.

The bottom of the carrier may be closed as at 3 in any suitable manner;this portion of the device forming no part of the present inventionother than that the casing 1, and its bottom provide in general areceptacle adapted for the purpose in question.

The improved closure comprises a cover 4 which is preferably of dishedsheet metal, flanged or beaded slightly as at 5, and the head of thecasing is suitably recessed for the reception of this cover and its headso that the entire cover is well protected laterally against injury whenclosed.

The cover is hinged to a bar or plate 7 the bracket 8 which carries thehinge pin 6 being preferably riveted to the cover with, however, aresilient plate 9 interposed there between. This plate performs a doublefunction in that its rear end 10 projects out beyond the cover and isadapted to seat itself in a slot or groove 11 in the inner wall of thecasing, while its forward and relatively free end is slotted, as at 12,to co-act with a lug 13 (see Figs. 3 and 4:) upon the pivoted cover-lock14:, to hold the latter against inadvertent displacement, when in itsopen position, as hereinafter described.

The lock 14 is rigidly mounted upon the squared shank 15 of thecover-lock pin 16 which extends through a hub upon the cover;

this pin being also squared at the enlarged upper end thereof to fit acorresponding aperture in a handle 17 the upper side of which bearsagainst head 18 of said pin.

The lock 14 may, if desired, be recessed upon its under side for thereception of the nut 19 which holds it in place upon the pin 16; and itfurthermore is cut away as at 20 to clear the ledge 21 which lies aboveits uncut or circular flange-like portion 22 when the lock is in itsoperative position. The said portion 22 is also notched, as at 23 forengagement with a spring-pressed tooth 24 which projects outwardlythrough a slot in a cap-like casing 25 the flange of which is riveted tothe cover immediately adjacent to the cover-lock, as shown in Fig. 4.

The tooth 24 normally bears against the under surface of flange 22, savewhen it is pressed down by the finger of the operative upon the upperend of the pin 26 from the side of which it extends out through casing25; or when, after handle 17 has been rotated to its locking position,the slot 23 permits said tooth to be snapped up thereinto by the spring26 within the hollow pin 26, which action obviously secures the lock inits operative position and prevents the cover from becoming unfastenedwhile the carrier is in transit.

Pivoted at 27 directly beneath the ledge 21 and to the inner wallof thecasing 1, is a plate or hinge-bar 28, which is yieldingly connected tothe free end of hinge-bar 7 to complete the link which connects thecover and receptacle. This yielding connection is of importance since itmaterially facilitates the closure of the cover. It is preferably formedby simply slotting plate 28, for example, as at 29, so that theshouldered parts of the rivets 30, or other connecting elements may ridein these slots.

The operation of the device is as follows: Assuming that the cover is inits open position, as shown in F 3, and in which position, it will benoted, free access to the interior of the receptacle is afforded byvirtue of the link connection between the receptacle and its cover; thehand of the operative grasps handle 17 and swings the cover down therebyinto the mouth of the receptacle. Swiveling of the handle to anymaterial extent until this operation is completed is normallyimpossible, since lug 13 is at such time well within slot 12; the freeend of plate 9 being sprung away from the bottom of the cover, as shownin Fig. 3. Were it not for this provision there would be more or lesstendency for the lock 14 to be moved to its locking position prematurelywhen closing the cover, which would involve possible loss of time inpost offices and like places Where it is of importance to eliminateunnecessary movements of the operatives whose duty it is to load thecarriers.

As the cover seats itself the extension or end 10 of plate 9, isinserted into slot 11, and acts as a fulcrum, permitting the operativewith but little effort to push down the side of the cover adjacent hishand, thereby forcing the free end of spring plate 9 back against theunder side of the cover to release lug 13 of the cover look.

It is frequently desirable to effect a tight closure of carrierreceptacles, especially where used for the transmission of mail throughtubes in which moisture may have collected, and were it not for theyielding connection (or some equivalent thereof) between the hinge pins6 and 27, it is obvious that considerable difficulty would beexperienced in tightly closing the cover if no play were allowed aroundthe edges thereof; which latter for the reason above noted isobjectionable.

Now in the patent to Stoddard, No. 962,796, dated June 28, 1910,adouble-hinged connection or link is shown which is in some respects notdissimilar to that herein de scribed; but precisely this trouble hasbeen encountered in the practice of Stoddards invention; which, it maybe here stated, has come into extensive use.

The provision of a yielding connection of some suitable descriptionovercomes the difiiculty and permits of easy closure of the cover andmoreover permits of a tight fit between the receptacle and its cover;practically no lateral play being allowed at the rim of the latter.

To conclude the description of the manner of effecting closure of thecarrier, it need only be added that once the cover has been snuglyseated, the handle 17 is rotated through substantially 180, the flange22 of the lock passing under the ledge 21 and the tooth 24 upon pin 26finally shooting up into notch 23 to hold the lock securely in placeuntil pin 26 is pressed inwardly and the handle reversely rotated toagain unlock the cover. The cover may now be pulled open by theoutwardly projecting handle and the spring plate 9 aids the reopening ofsaid cover in an obvious manner.

In general, a yielding connection such as described, whether due to theprovision of slots in the link, or elsewhere, or to other means orproperties, 6'. g. resiliency, which may enable the connection to beproperly characterized as a yielding one, are to be preferred to a rigidlink connection which involves a particular and fixed disposition of thepivotal axes thereof; although it will be observed that certain of theclaims are of sufficient breadth to comprehend even such latterconstruction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, a receptacle, a cover adapted to be inserted into themouth of said receptacle to make a close fit therewith, a double-hingedconnecting link between said cover and receptacle to permit of the coverbeing swung open clear of said mouth, said link being connected at oneend to the inner side of said cover and having its other end connectedto an inner wall of said receptacle, said link being protected by saidreceptacle and its cover when the latter is closed, and means to permitof movement of said cover when nearly closed, in the direction of thelength of said link to allow of free insertion of said cover into saidmouth and removal therefrom despite relatively rough workmanship inassembling the parts aforesaid. I

2. A device of the class described which comprises a receptacle, a covertherefor, and a double-hinged connection between said coverand'receptacle the respective pivotal axes of WlllCllalG displaceablewith respect to each other in therdirection of the length of saidconnection, said connection having one end thereof pivotally attached tothe inner side of said cover and having its other end attached to aninner wall of said receptacle, said connection lying Within saidreceptacle and being protected by said cover when the latter is closed.

3. A device of the class described which of said cover with respecttothe receptacle 10 comprises a receptacle, a cover therefor havwhensaid cover is thus nearly closed.

ing a double-hinged connection to said re- In testimony whereof I haveaifixed my ceptacle iln which is a yieldling slofted joint signature, inthe presence of two witnesses. 5 which al ows of lateral p ay on y inthe direction of the length of said direction be- MERTON EMERSON tweensaid receptacle and cover when the Witnesses:

latter is nearly closed, said joint being lat- CHARLES O. LAURIN,

erally rigid to prevent sidewise movement ETHEL M. JORDAN.

j Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the "Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G."

@errection in Letters Patent No. 1,185,489.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,185,489, granted May30, 1916, upon the application of Merton L. Emerson, of Braintree,Massachusetts, for an improvement in Pneumatic Carriers, an errorappears in the printed specification rer uiring correction as follows:Page 3, line 6, claim 3, for the word direction, second occurrence, readconnection; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with thiscorrection therein that the same may conform to the record of the casein the Patent Ofiice;

Signed and sealed this 20th day of June, A. D., 1916.

J. T. NEWTON,

Acting Corn/mission of Patents.

[SEAL]

